Hi, another book question(though I notice this thread seems to have no activity so hope this is an ok place to ask). Are there any published books with the Kaiser Wilhelm II diaries or letters throughout his life?( I do have My Early Life , Letters to the Tsar and Kaiser's Memoirs). I read Gone Astray, Some Leaves from and Emperor's Diary..I was hoping that was real but I can tell it is more fiction..am I right? Plus the intro in the book hints to that.I had hoped it was really his diaries , or parts of them, and while at times they seems real , other times not. I have noticed some authors have used the book as a source though.
Has everyone pretty much left these discussions?

A lot of threads about past royalty on the forum are like this one, dormant for a while, (sometimes a long while,) until someone asks a question or makes a comment and then there can be a flurry for a while before it dies down again. It's good to have these threads though, I think.

To answer your question, I have never come across a volume of letters to and from the Kaiser. That doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I haven't come across them!

My guess is that if there are any they would be published in German. Apart from his role in World War One, I think that books about Kaiser Bill occupy quite a niche market in English-speaking countries. Publishers would therefore just concentrate on his life story rather than correspondence. I think he's quite fascinating, but I suspect you and I are exceptions!

Have you had a look at the Alexander Palace Forum website? There are wide ranging and quite thorough discussions on every royal and noble family in Europe on the forum there. Often it's Romanov based nowadays, but there are published authors among their posters and they discuss biographies and other books etc. Marvellous photos too, as some posters collect them as a hobby.

Thanks for replying! Yes I have read the threads on Alexander Palace as well, very interesting posts and pictures!

I find him fascinating as well and I would really like to read more of his correspondence! I do enjoy reading My Early Life because it includes little personal tidbits and memories the many authors of his life story leave out. I think a lot of the authors have an agenda(don't really like him) and don't like to include too any nice personal stories and tidbits..I also hesitate to post on Facebook groups because so many dislike him, many without ever really reading any books about him and just perpetuate rumors or make stories bigger than they really were.
Have you ever heard of "Gone Astray Leaves From An Emperors Diary"? I found it listed as a source in a book I read, but really seems more fiction than factual. I want to read what he himself wrote, and in English! I do see there are more books on him in German.

Cyril, Kaiser Wilhelm thought he would be able to stay on as King of Prussia after he abdicated as the Emperor. However, Germany, including Prussia, was in a state of tumult in 1918-19, (soviets springing up everywhere) and it was explained to Wilhelm that it would be impossible. Germans had decided to be done with royalty altogether.

I'm sorry, Jolie, I've never read that book you mention. I have looked on the internet about what has been written in regard to it and 'Gone Astray' appears to be a factual account. Jmo though!

Oh I hope it is factual,(well..most of it...)though there are a few things in there I can't picture him writing but who knows! I know the royals wrote a lot and could be quite dramatic in their letters though! I thought it was factual when I bought it, but what made me doubt is the preface says..:
"The manuscript of this volume was brought to the publishers by a person very well known to them.
"It does not purport to be an actual transcription of the Kaiser's Diary , it sufficiently reveals his extraordinary character to render it a valuable psychological study, setting forth , as it does,his ideas and opinions regarding personal, domestic and political matters, from days of his boyhood to the present hour. Whether viewed from the standpoint of a personal document or the result of a life-long study by a marvellously gifted student of character, the volume will undoubtedly prove interesting and enlightening to every reader"
So that is where I got a little confused if it was really all his words or not! I have of course seen excerpts of his letters etc in various books, just would like to see a book devoted to just letters. I didn't realize I have been rather redundant on this topic until I looked at past posts!

Yes, that was going to be the centrepiece for the 1916 Summer Olympics, to be held in Berlin. For obvious reasons that particular Olympics didn't go ahead! Germany was in no condition to hold an Olympics after the war either, so AFAIR Antwerp Belgium got it in 1920. Germany and its allies weren't invited.

Does anyone know what happened to the arena that was shown above being dedicated in 1913? Was it used for sporting events between the Wars until 1935/36 when the Nazis built their Olympic Stadium on the same site?

Does anyone know what happened to the arena that was shown above being dedicated in 1913? Was it used for sporting events between the Wars until 1935/36 when the Nazis built their Olympic Stadium on the same site?

Hi, I'm from Berlin but had no idea... so: Wikipedia... The stadium was known as Deutsches Stadion and was used during the Great War for the wounded, rehab and stuff. After the war some important soccer games happened there, including with "my" team Union. It hosted up to 64.000 visitors. Well, and then, as you already said, it was used by the Nazis as a foundation for their stadium. You can find the german wikipedia article here, the english one is just a stub:

Thank you so much, Victor. It got me wondering. So it was called the Deutsches Stadion and was used for soccer matches in the 1920s and early 1930's until the Nazis got their paws on it. Well, thank heavens it didn't go to waste!

It must have been near-completion by the time war broke out in 1914, and of course everyone expected a very short war so there were still expectations that the 1916 Olympics would be held there. Not to be.

I suppose most of the original stadium was pulled down in 1935 and new buildings put up. Apparently Hitler wasn't a sports fan and was a bit luke warm about the Olympics!

Hi! Well, I think with a capacity of just 64.000 places it was simply to small in Hitler's mind... Please don't forget that Hitler used everything for propaganda - this includes the olympic games of 1936, for which the new stadium, the Olympiastadion, was built.

Princess Viktoria Luise married Prince Ernst August of Hanover in 1913.
Prince Ernst August was shy of being demonstrative in public. He said to Viktoria Luise when they were engaged that he did not like people to be there and stare.

I think a lot of royals then and now were/are wary of being demonstrative in public. Of course people in general then were much less into PDA. It's nice to see when they are affectionate towards each other, though.

That film is very clear. The adjunct to Wilhelm's life, the Empress Dona, is waiting patiently in the background, I see. What's also in evidence is the rather beaky nose and receding chin of Wilhelm's maternal Hanovarian ancestors reproduced in him, though it wasn't really a feature of his mother Vicky's face.

Yes I enjoyed seeing Dona as well, so clear and close! Most of their children got that nose and chin as well. Wilhelm's chin isn't too receding though and it looks like he has a cleft in it? When I see his father Fritz when young and without the beard, I can see Wilhelm. Though I see his mother in him too.
Also, funny to see Wilhelm adjusting his uniform, and I wonder why he turns completely around before sitting in the carriage. That would make me dizzy, and I know with his ear troubles he suffered from dizziness at times.

Emperor Wilhelm II founded the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Encouragement of Scientific Research. He surprised his Uncle Edward VII by pontificating on the relative merits of petrol, diesel, and potato spirit as propellants for motor cars while staying at Sandringham.